Shore Medical Center was honored with an “A” Hospital Safety Score^SM by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits. The Hospital Safety Score^SM was calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel using publicly available data on patient injuries, medical and medication errors, and infections. U.S. hospitals were assigned an A, B, C, D, or F for their safety.

“We are especially proud to receive an ‘A’ for hospital safety from The Leapfrog Group,” said Shore President and CEO Ron Johnson. “Safety is an area that is within every hospital’s control, and this is a clear indication of Shore’s passion for the well-being of the people we care for each and every day.

“In addition to this recognition, over the past year, Shore has been named a top performer by The Joint Commission,” Johnson continued. “We again received our advanced certification as a primary stroke center and have been awarded The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal for our spine surgery and joint and hip replacement programs. I believe these certifications and recognitions speak to the high quality healthcare we provide, and serve as a testament to the skills of our exceptional physicians, nurses and staff.”

“It’s The Leapfrog Group’s goal to give patients the information they need and deserve before even entering a hospital,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We congratulate the hospitals that earned an ‘A’ and we look forward to the day when all hospitals in the U.S. will earn the highest scores for putting patient safety first.”

To see Shore Medical Center’s scores as they compare nationally and locally, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org, the Hospital Safety Score^SM website, which also provides information on how the public can protect themselves and loved ones during a hospital stay.

Calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group’s nine-member Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 26 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from infections, injuries, and medical and medication errors. The panel includes: John Birkmeyer (University of Michigan), Ashish Jha (Harvard University), Lucian Leape (Harvard University), Arnold Millstein (Stanford University), Peter Pronovost (Johns Hopkins University), Patrick Romano (University of California, Davis), Sara Singer (Harvard University), Tim Vogus (Vanderbilt University), and Robert Wachter (University of California, San Francisco).